A distraught Anthony Gerrard has turned to Twitter to articulate his
disappointment at missing the crucial penalty in Sunday’s Carling Cup
shoot-out against Liverpool.

The less celebrated member of the Gerrard clan – and the third Cardiff City player to miss from the spot – took to the site in the early hours of Monday to apologise to the club’s fans: “Sorry to everyone!” he tweeted.

“I can’t close my eyes wid out seeing that penalty!! It’s goin to haunt me for the rest of my days! Head is mashed!”

The response from Cardiff supporters, however, was overwhelmingly positive.

Dozens of messages of goodwill immediately headed back in the 26-year-old Liverpudlian’s direction.

Most suggested he and his team-mates should be proud of their achievement in running their more elevated opponents so close.

Gerrard had been the member of the Welsh team most visibly crushed by the conclusion of the most dramatic match yet at the new Wembley.

He presented a picture of misery as Liverpool celebrated their success, separating himself from his team-mates, evidently overwhelmed by what he regarded as his culpability in Cardiff’s failure to secure what would have been the club’s first trophy since 1927.

There was little surprise that the player who had been so talkative in the build-up to the match refused to answer journalists’ questions after it, walking through the mixed zone with his gaze resolutely turned downwards saying nothing.

While most of the Cardiff team – plus their manager Malky Mackay – had enhanced their reputations, Gerrard’s two contributions to the game after he came on as a replacement for the splendid captain Mark Hudson, were first to clear the ball straight to Dirk Kuyt, who scored for Liverpool, then to miss the crucial penalty.

With that, he saw his chance at last to escape from the lengthy shadow cast by his celebrated cousin Steven disappear from 12 yards.

Not that any of his team-mates were as hard on the player as he was on himself.

Cardiff goalkeeper Tom Heaton, who had opened the shoot-out by saving Steven Gerrard’s penalty, said: “There is definitely no blame attached to any of the lads who missed.

"They all had the strength of character to stand up and take a penalty in front of 90,000 people and the world watching in a pressure situation.

"They should be credited and congratulated for taking them. It would have been a great day if we’d have won it but once the emotion wears off we’ll take positives and that will be one of them.”

And Mackay insisted that Gerrard should not be vilified for his error.

“He will be as disappointed as we each are because it’s not about individuals, it’s about the team and the togetherness of the group,” he said.

“That is what has pleased me so much this season. There are no egos and they stand shoulder to shoulder as you saw here.

"They work so hard for each other with no shortage of quality attached to it.”

Indeed, the manager believed that his players would draw significant confidence from their ability to match Liverpool.

A confidence which will help them reverse a recent slump in the Championship and progress towards the club’s ultimate ambition of promotion to the Premier League.

At the moment they are eight points behind West Ham, who they play on Saturday, in the second automatic spot.

“We’ll give it the best shot we’ve got between today and the end of the season,” Mackay said.

“We lost with dignity and we can take enormous positives from that.”

Cardiff’s owners, too, were anxious to emphasise the upbeat.

The club chairman Dato Chan Tien Ghee – who marked the Carling Cup week by extending Mackay’s contract – suggested that, despite his team losing for the third time at the new Wembley, enough was learned that even a return to the stadium in May for play-offs held few fears.

“If we need to do it, coming to Wembley, then we will continue to do it until we succeed,” he said.

“I would like to do it a little bit easier if I could because my heart couldn’t take it. It was a disappointing way to lose of course, but we feel we had the moral victory and we are very happy.”